BENTLEYVILLE -- Firefighters from several departments responded to a Christmas day fire in Wednesday in the village of Bentleyville.

Firefighters were called to 20 Pine Crest Drive in the late morning, according to Chagrin Falls Assistant Chief Jim Leffler.

Crews arrived to find heavy smoke and flames coming from an area between the garage and home, a large colonial-style residence.

He said all four or five family members and their cats got out OK and actually discovered the fire after hearing crackling sounds. He said the fire started in an area above the garage that the family described as a "bonus room" that was being used for storage.

Leffler said the cause of the fire remains under investigation and credited firefighters for their work bringing the blaze under control.

"The crew did an excellent job and were surprisingly able to put it out -- with the amount of fire load that was there -- pretty well," he said.

Firefighters from Bainbridge, Solon, Aurora and Russell and Auburn townships assisted, as did the Geauga County Water Shuttle, which brought in tankers because some of the hydrants were frozen, according to Leffler.